Several people were hit by a train on a railway line in Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday.

As a spokeswoman for the Recklinghausen police told the AFP news agency, the accident happened in the evening on the railway line between Recklinghausen-Ost and Recklinghausen-Hauptbahnhof.

Accordingly, a freight train is involved in the accident, which was reported to the police at 6:12 p.m.

According to the fire department, 35 firefighters and rescue workers were deployed.

"We searched the track bed," said a spokesman for the fire department.

Due to the darkness and the extent of the search area, a drone was used.

The accident site is near a former freight yard.

Recklinghausen is located in the northern Ruhr area.

The WDR reported that the people "were dragged along for several hundred meters".

After the train accident, the route between Gladbeck and Recklinghausen main station is closed.

There are restrictions on regional traffic on the S9, RE2 and RE42 train lines, said a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn.

Long-distance traffic is not affected.